Virgin America launches loyalty program for SMBs

Virgin America airline launched a corporate rewards program for small- and medium-sized businesses on March 15. The program, Elevate Inc., is designed to reward companies that spend a minimum of $20,000 per year on travel with the airline.

Elevate Inc. is the company's first loyalty program for business travelers. Program members will receive 3% of their total annual spend off future travel.

“[Elevate] is important because we're continuing to expand into major business markets like Dallas and Chicago,” said Katie Baynes, media relations specialist at Virgin America. “We want to be able to reward those companies and businesses doing that travel.”

Virgin America launched in August 2007. The company, based in San Francisco, has a workforce of 1,900 and has served more than 11 million customers.

Although Baynes would not reveal how many member sign-ups the program received in its first day, she did say, “We've seen a good amount.”

She also suggested changes could be made to the program in coming months. “We'll see what customer response is,” she said.